LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Prof. Dr Dirk Lange joins other delegates for the opening of the Synod in the Vatican. Photo: CatholicPressPhoto/A. Giuliani
Assistant General Secretary Lange among 16 ecumenical delegates attending meeting on reform of Catholic Church
(LWI) - As an ecumenical participant in the Roman Catholic Church’s Synod, which is taking place in the Vatican this month, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations Prof. Dr Dirk Lange says the event reminds Lutherans that “we are also called to reclaim ‘Synodality’ in our own churches”.
Lange is the only Lutheran attending the Synod which includes 16 delegates representing different churches and global Christian communions. These ecumenical delegates participate fully in all the Synod sessions but have no vote at the conclusion of the process. The historical gathering, which opens on 2 October, brings together Catholic bishops and other leaders, including women and lay people, from around the globe to discuss the far-reaching reforms that are at the heart of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
The Synod was preceded by two days of spiritual retreat, guided by meditations from a Dominican priest and a Benedictine mother superior. Lange says the retreat “challenged us all into thinking what ‘being alive’ means today, especially for a world that is seeking, yearning for peace, for community, for God. It challenged us into thinking about what we cling to out of fear and out of a certain misconception about what it means to be church.”
I admire and rejoice in the way that the Catholic Church has taken this path, which offers itself as a model for our own processes.
Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations
Lange notes that the Synod itself is “a unique process and methodology, influenced by Jesuit spirituality, which is focused on consulting, discussing and praying to discern where the Holy Spirit is leading us.” He describes it as “a risky and vulnerable process,” adding that “I admire and rejoice in the way that the Catholic Church has taken this path, which offers itself as a model for our own processes.”
Some 400 delegates are attending the Synod which brings to a conclusion the renewal process inaugurated by Pope Francis in 2021. On 11 October, all delegates will take part in an ecumenical prayer service which also marks the 62nd anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the landmark meeting of Roman Catholic bishops which opened the church up to dialogue with other Christians and with believers of other faiths.
Lange says he hopes for an “ever growing implementation of the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church, with its call for greater participation and its invitation to us all to find ways to unity.” As Lutherans too, he says, “we can never stop asking ourselves what it means to be a community, a true communion, free from the threat of clericalism. Our LWF quotas are one way in which we try to implement synodality, but at the same time we are also challenged to engage in a process of spiritual discernment that will shape our communion, so that the quotas will not simply be a ‘rule’ but rather our way of being church.”
